The Eastern Cape's Covid-19 hotspots will be divided into sub-districts to better manage the fight against the pandemic through regional responses in the "vulnerable" province, the national Department of Health said on Sunday.
In a media statement on Sunday night, he said after completing a trip to the Western Cape, which has 65% of all national cases, the department was now turning its attention to the Eastern Cape.
"The Eastern Cape has similar numbers to Gauteng but it has recorded the second highest mortality numbers and its proximity and interconnectedness with the Western Cape makes the province especially vulnerable.
The department also sent a team of experts to the Eastern Cape in April comprising Wayne Ramkrishna, an expert in malaria, vector-borne and zoonotic diseases as well as Dr Kerrigan McCarthy, Mzimasi Neti and Darren Muganhiri from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NCID).
As reported to President Cyril Ramaphosa last week, the Western and Eastern Cape provincial governments are collaborating closely to test essential seasonal workers who travel between the provinces.
